How Patty Ryan cemented her name in Columbus high school sports officiating history
Now, more than ever, the Ohio High School Athletic Association is looking for young people to get involved with officiating.
Having created initiatives to help combat an officiating shortage that has grown over the years, some of the OHSAA's efforts have been directed at high school students. For any who are skeptical, Patty Ryan would like a word.
Ryan, 78, became a basketball official at age 16. As the daughter of late St. Charles and Hartley coach Jack Ryan, who was inducted into state coaches halls of fame in baseball, basketball and football and whose name graces the Hartley football field, sports are in her blood.
There was no doubt Patty would end up being involved in the local sports scene, following in her father's footsteps. But she also blazed her own trail, overcoming obstacles and becoming the first woman to officiate a boys basketball game in Columbus.
"Patty didn't believe in boundaries," said her brother, Jimmy Ryan. "She didn't believe that women couldn’t do what men can do.”
'Around sports all her life'
Born in 1945, Patty has no fingers on her left hand, the result of a congenital anomaly. While growing up in Columbus, her parents never let her believe she was different from any of the other kids.
Whether it was playing basketball on the blacktop in her neighborhood or being the only girl on her little league baseball team, nothing stopped Patty from competing – or keeping everyone on their toes.
“Patty was around sports all her life, but when Patty would get out there I think that she realized that she had to outsmart all of the players on the other team,” Jimmy said. “When she was seeing something take place in the game, Patty was one step ahead of people and just outthought them, not just outplayed them.”
While attending St. Mary of the Springs High School, she was on the field hockey and basketball teams. She continued her basketball career at Ohio Dominican.
During and after her time as an athlete, she also gained experience as a coach and as an official, the latter leading to a career. She spent about 20 years as an official in Columbus, working in different sports and different levels to capitalize on her wide array of knowledge and experience.
“I think it was just a natural (transition) from playing sports to officiating,” Ryan said. “I officiated in the Catholic schools, and we made $2 for a seventh-grade game and $2 or $3 for eighth grade. They were short for officials then, so they always recruited.”
New wave: OHSAA recruiting younger generation to tackle officiating shortage
Although she spent time as a student coach in eighth grade for her girls basketball team, it was officiating that stuck with Ryan.
Upon graduating from Ohio Dominican in 1967, the officiating resume that Ryan had started in high school continued to grow. At first, she was working only girls high school and women's college games in the area, but like her father, she ventured into multiple sports.
By the end of her career as an official in Ohio, Ryan had officiated 11 high school state finals for girls basketball, softball, field hockey and volleyball. Those games are reserved for the best officials.
With seemingly nowhere higher for Ryan to go in terms of officiating girls high school sports, a door opened near the end of her career when fellow Columbus-based official John Tonti called looking for a partner for a boys basketball game.
'Confident in her abilities'
When Ryan was working as an official, she felt no one paid attention to her left hand, and that was the way she wanted it.
In the same vein, she said it didn't take long for her to become "part of the scenery" in her three seasons as a woman officiating high school boys basketball. It didn't happen right away, but once she got adjusted, she said no one paid attention to the fact she was a woman and she eventually earned a chance to work a boys basketball district finals.
Back in the late 1970s, basketball games had only two officials rather than three. So, when Tonti needed a partner for a game in Marion, knowing Ryan's experience in the sport plus her family background, Tonti thought she deserved the chance to prove her ability on the boys side of the game.
“I think Patty was a little bit nervous about that, but she’s also extremely confident in her abilities,” Tonti said. “She’s a good official for any sport because she knows how to handle kids and how to handle problems. So, I walked through the door with Patty, and nothing was said.”
'It's about the kids': Central Ohio high school football officiating crew honored by NFL
Being the first woman to walk into a central Ohio high school gym to officiate a boys basketball game was far from perfect, but Ryan knew how to react to someone who tried to put her down.
“I can remember people told me to go back into the kitchen – ‘why don’t you put your apron on?’ ” she said. “You just kind of let that stuff go.”
According to Tonti, Ryan's ability to be a fair and consistent official who could keep up with the boys showed she belonged.
There were still adjustments that had to be made with a woman working the games, such as figuring out which locker room she would use (which led to former Ohio State men's basketball coach Fred Taylor accidently walking into her changing room at St. John Arena). And while she was mostly treated equally to her male counterparts, she still had to get official permission from the coaches to call each game because she was a woman.
Ryan made the decision to end her officiating career in 1982, closing it out calling an adult slow-pitch softball game, to peruse her doctorate degree in education at Ohio State. This decision eventually led her to Otterbein, where she spent 25 years as an education professor until her retirement in 2013.
The time and effort she put into officiating didn't drift into the past without being recognized, however. In 1997, she was inducted into the OHSAA Officiating Hall of Fame, cementing her legacy in Columbus high school history, just like her father did.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Patty Ryan blazed trail for women officials in Ohio boys basketball
